dreamfeed / cluster feed- it's not 100% clear

[Lientje]

Sorry if it's rather a stupid question (newbee).  It's not 100% clear to me if my son (8weeks) should be awake while he is eating?  And after he has finished his meal, am I supposed to keep him awake or not.

And for a cluster feed? 

It's really hard to wake up my son once he is asleep.  Maybe if I would give him a cold bath ;-)

[Lewis'mum]

Hi Lientje
If you mean for the DF, then it's fine to feed when he's partly asleep and to put him straight back down once finished. The point of the DF is exactly that - feed without waking fully and don't wake after - even to burp if you can help it. For the cluster feeds I would say that he should be awake and treat them like normal feeds except with no A time afterwards, so again, put back down to sleep. However, if you are getting him up to cluster feed I see no harm in feeding while asleep.
My LO was the same re: waking. He would always fall asleep on the breast and no amount of proding and encouragement would wake him. We used to strip him down to his vest so that he was cool and keep stopping to sit him up which seemed to work sometimes. Failing that, I would just let him sleep for a few minutes, while the milk rush passed, and then would have better luck waking him. He did become more alert around 8-9 weeks though.

[annamum]

Yes, for the dreamfeed don't wake him up, just gently pick him up from his crib and the best time to do it is while he is in a light sleep phase, that means when he stirs a little in his sleep. In a light sleep phase he will be more cooperative to open his mouth and feed. The point is not to wake him up and even if he does, he will/should fall asleep while feeding, put him back to his crib.

With cluster feeds it depends on your schedule, my dd was the most alert and active in the late afternoons always, she is an evening person like me, so she didn't nap most of the time between cluster feeds but went to sleep early.